Iron Mountain senior Matthew Colavecchi (4) runs away from Maple City-Glen Lake defenders after hauling in a pass during the MHSAA Division 8 state playoff game on Friday night at Mountaineer Stadium in Iron Mountain. The undefeated Mountaineers demolished the visiting Lakers 57-6 in the first-round playoff matchup. (Terry Raiche photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Several times this season, the Iron Mountain Mountaineers have built a big lead early in games and kept their opponents at bay the rest of the way.

In Friday’s MHSAA Division 8 District 1 opener at Mountaineer Stadium, Iron Mountain took that trend to the ultimate form, scoring a remarkable seven touchdowns in the first quarter en route to a 57-6 pasting of Maple City Glen Lake.

Facing a stiff wind in the first quarter, the Lakers couldn’t get anything going offensively out of their spread offense.

On the other hand, the Mountaineers scored at will — finishing the opening 12 minutes with four rushing touchdowns and three defensive touchdowns.

“Just one of those games, it doesn’t happen a lot, but it was just snowballing in one direction,” IM coach Robin Marttila said. “We were able to get on them early, we had the wind, and they couldn’t do much.

“Give our kids credit, we were explosive on offense and we got some turnovers there.”

Senior lineman Connor Owens spoke in the same terms.

“They kind of shot themselves in the foot a few times starting off and I feel like it kind of snowballed for us just jamming it at them and before you knew it, we were gone,” Owens said.

The events of the first quarter were dizzying. After completing a 26-yard pass on their first drive, Glen Lake drove to the Iron Mountain 45-yard line but were held on fourth down.

On the next play, senior standout Luke Wolfe broke free for a 51-yard touchdown run.

His matter-of-fact description of the play encapsulated the game well.

“(Offensive guard) Bryce Davis came around the edge, great block and it was wide open, and I just outran everyone,” Wolfe said.

The UPPSA Division 1-3 Mountaineers (10-0) held the Lakers to a three-and-out on the next possession. On IM’s first play from scrimmage, Ian Marttila hit Matthew Colavecchi for a 36-yard gain that nearly turned into a touchdown.

No matter, though. The Mountaineers scored on the next play on a 19-yard run by Wolfe.

“I think we’ve got too many weapons to cover, and we prepared well,” Wolfe said.

Another Glen Lake punt was immediately followed by a 52-yard scoring sprint by Alex Jayne.

At that point, Iron Mountain had run four offensive plays and scored three touchdowns.

It got worse for the Lakers, though their next possession was extended a bit by a roughing the punter penalty against IM. The next sequence of plays spoke volumes. An incompletion was followed by a false start penalty and then a procedure penalty.

On second-and-20, Glen Lake fumbled, and IM senior linebacker Bradon Walstrom scooped up the ball and ran 15 yards for another score.

Shortly after, Colavecchi recorded a 32-yard pick six and then six plays after that, Walstrom ran in for a 31-yard score.

After Davis nailed his sixth extra point, the Mountaineers led 42-0 with 1:03 left to play in the opening quarter.

To top it all off, Iron Mountain scored on the last play of the first quarter on a 32-yard fumble recovery touchdown by Wolfe.

In sum, the Mountaineers ran six plays in the first quarter and posted seven touchdowns.

“I think we’ve got a lot of good players, and (Glen Lake) couldn’t keep up with what we were throwing at them,” Owens said.

“We just played well on both sides of the ball,” Coach Martilla added. “And we won the turnover battle. I watched (Glen Lake) in the warmup and they had some good-looking athletes but we were able to do what we do and enforce our will on them.”

The Mountaineers added to their overwhelming lead with a safety with 4:06 left in the half when a poor snap on a punt attempt went through the end zone.

Up 51-0, Iron Mountain received the second half kick and drove 80 yards in five plays, culminating in a 2-yard run by Walstrom.

The PAT kick was blocked and IM’s point total for the night ended at 57.

The Lakers got on the board against the IM reserves when Benji Allen connected with Cooper Bufalini for a 30-yard scoring strike.

The Mountaineers will stay at home this week and will face a familiar opponent in Ishpeming. The Hematites went on the road Saturday and defeated East Jordan 20-6 to advance.

The Mountaineers handled Ishpeming 40-6 on Sept. 8. After dropping three of their first four, the Hematites come into the district battle riding a six-game winning streak.